Tuesday, 30 June 2009

For some time I wanted to create an activity involving the native Kalinago People of Dominica.The Kalinago people are more popularly known as The Caribs and are the people whose ancestors the European Explorers met when they came to the eastern Caribbean. Dominica is the only island in the Eastern Caribbean where they survived and live in their own community which is referred to as “The Carib Reserve, The Carib Village or the Carib Territory. From here on I will refer to these legendary people by their ancestral name Kalinago.

This activity is an attempt to encapsulate the quintessence of the culture and historicjourney of the lives of the legendary and courageous Kalinago People. It is about their social and cultural evolution from the time they arrived on what they called Waitukubulito the present time in what we now call Dominica.

From our base in Roseau, we begin the drive through the lush rugged and forestedInterior of the island to the east Atlantic Coast leading to the Kalinago Village.

L' Escalier Tete Chien is a natural staircase coming from the Atlantic Ocean. According to the kalinago legend, it is believed to be the path left from an enormous boa constrictor that emerged from the Atlantic Ocean.

L' Escalier Tete Chien is located in the hamlet of Sineku in the Carib Territory of Dominica. Sineku is the southern most hamlet in the Carib Territory of Dominica.

Friday, 19 June 2009

It is believed that the Kalinago people transported the Cassava plant to Dominica from South America over 1000 years ago. Cassava was among the most appreciated food of the Kalinago people, and has always been an important part in their daily diet.

There are various methods of preparation of Cassava according to the purpose for which it will be used. The Cassava can be roasted, boiled or baked. It is most commonly used to make Cassava Bread. It is also commonly used to make Farine, which is the fiber of the Cassava after the starch has been removed from it.

Friday, 12 June 2009

This is a real Amerindian village, not a quaint replica for the benefit of tourists. Paul Crask visits the place where Dominica’s past meets the present...

Irvince Auguiste, architect of the Touna Auté project, invites me into his kitchen, where his wife Louisette greets me with a big smile and a glass of freshly squeezed tangerine juice. It is delicious.

Auguiste and Louisette are getting very used to people coming into their home, because that is the essence of the Touna Auté concept. Unlike the nearby Kalinago Barana Auté, or Kalinago (model) village by the sea, Touna Auté (village by the river) is not an exhibition of how Dominica’s indigenous people used to live. It is a unique insight into how they actually live today.

The Karifuna Cultural Group started in 1979 with the objective of reviving and maintaining the remaining aspects of the Kalinago culture. Over the years, the group has placed the Kalinago culture it’s in rightful place within the context of Dominican culture.Employing popular theater techniques, the group has attempted to educate the residents of the Kalinago Territory focusing their attention on the many issues and challenges in their lives and helping to find solutions to these challenges.

Their aim is to revive, help and maintain Kalinago tradition through song, dances, herbal medicine and some aspects of the ancient Kalinago language, all which have contributed to a sense of belonging.

The Isulukati Waterfall offers a unique place for visitors who wish to relax and swim under a beautiful waterfall.

The Isulukati Waterfall is located within the Kalinago Barana Autê in the Carib Territory. It falls into a natural swimming pool called "Basin Bleau", at the mouth of the Crayfish River. The Crayfish River received its name because it was a habitat for many crayfish among schools of other fishes.

The Kalinago Barana Autê offers a unique experience, sharing history and traditions of the Kalinago people (caribs) from hundreds of years ago. It is located along the banks of the Crayfish-River near the Isukulati Falls in the Carib Territory of Dominica. The site consists of a reception center, snack bar and gift shop. To begin your tour, a footbridge crosses the river and gives way to a circular trail leading to a series of small huts throughout the village. There is a Karbet which is used for cultural and theatrical performances. Kalinago (carib) traditional activities at the village include canoe building, cassava processing, basket weaving and herb collection and preparation. The kalinagos (caribs) are the indigenous people of Dominica.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Extinct group of Indian people who inhabited the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. By the time the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, they had been driven by their more powerful Taino neighbours to a few isolated locations in what are now Cuba and Haiti. They lived in settlements of one or two families and apparently subsisted largely on seafood. The tool technology of the Cuban Ciboney was based on shell, that of the Haitian Ciboney on stone. Within a century of the first European contact, the Ciboney were extinct.

Monday, 1 June 2009

First Inhabitants...Dominica has been inhabited by human beings for a long time - there is evidence that the island was inhabited in at least 3100 BC. The first settlers were the Ortoroid people who set out from the South American mainland and gradually spread northwards through the Caribbean island chain.

Evidence suggests they became extinct around 400BC. Later came the Igneri or "Arawak speakers" who settled in about 400AD. Their way of life was agricultural and peaceful with a well-defined culture. By 1400 this was about to change as a similar tribe, the Kalinago or as the "Caribs" (as they became more commonly known) departed South America and aggressively moved their way up the Caribbean.

The Caribs...The Caribs seemed to be very much into raiding and the men aggressively attacked the Igneri, stealing their women when it was deemed feasible. The Caribs were organised and were very successful in eliminating the Igneri from many of the Caribbean islands, including Dominica.

The First Europeans...Columbus was the first European to set eyes on Dominica on 3rd November, 1493 - it was a Sunday - so he named it after the day. Dominica's history from this point in many ways mirrors that of other Caribbean islands but differs in a few very significant ways. The Spanish were the first to try to colonise islands in the Lesser Antilles and they were met with stiff resistance. Spanish attempts to colonise Dominica and surrounding islands with their Christian missionaries failed miserably - the Caribs either killed or held the missionaries hostage and the Spanish were not willing to pit their fighting skills against a skilled enemy and the rugged terrain of Dominica. In fact, this attitude pretty much summed up how the next wave of European colonists, the English and the French, were to feel when they arrived in Dominica at the start of the 1600's.

Carib was a name used by Europeans to describe those people who inhabited the islands of the Lesser Antilles at the time of Columbus' second voyage in 1493. This was not what the people called themselves. The repeated use of the name for over five centuries however, has made it widely adopted even by the descendants of the people themselves.

The French missionary Raymond Breton, visiting Dominica in 1642, recorded that the "Caribs'" name for themselves was Callinago in the "men's language" and Calliponam in the "women's language", while Callínemeti was "a good peaceful man". This has now led to the adoption of the word Kalinago and Karifuna by cultural groups, anthropologists and historians to describe the Caribs. The "Black Caribs" of Belize, who are descended from ancestors in St. Vincent, call themselves the "Garifuna".

Kalinago: The Carib word for the Carib people. As Father Breton, who lived among the Kalinago in Dominica off and on between 1642 and 1653 says in his dictionary: "This is the real name of the Caribs of the islands." He wrote it as "Callinago", but the usual phonetic writing today is "Kalinago". "Kalinemeti" means "A good, peaceful man".

Dominica is home to approximately 3,000 Carib Indians, descendants of the largest aboriginal inhabitants of the Caribbean islands.

We the few descendants of this once huge nation, prefer to be known by our original name, Kalinago. Our homes and farms are scattered throughout the reserve over eight communities. The villages ad hamlets are called Bataca, Crayfish River, Salybia, St Cyr, Gaulette River, Mahaut River, Sinekou and Touna Aute/village.

The tribe is governed by the Carib Chief and Council, who are elected by the Kalinago people themselves. A Parliamentary Representative from the Carib Council represents the Kalinago in the Dominican House of Assembly.

The Arawaks were guided to Dominica, and other islands of the Caribbean, by the South Equatorial Current from the waters of the Orinoco River. These descendants of the early Tainos were overthrown by the Kalinago tribe of the Caribs.[citation needed]

The Caribs, who settled here in the 14th century, called the island Waitikubuli, which means 'tall is her body'. Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it - a Sunday ('Doménica' in Italian) - which fell on November 3, 1493.

Daunted by fierce resistance from the Caribs and discouraged by the absence of gold, the Spanish did not settle the island. Many of the remaining Carib people live in Dominica's Carib Reserve, a 3,700-acre (15 km2) Territory on Dominica's east coast.

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Dominica should not be confused with the Dominican Republic.Dominica is located between French-controlled Martinique and Guadeloupe in the eastern Caribbean.

The official name of the island is 'Commonwealth of Dominica' Dominica's pre-Columbian name wasWai'tu kubuli, which means 'tall is her body'...Dominica is referred as the 'Nature Island', where two-thirds of the island are home to the tropical rain forests and thousands of plant species.

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